THE STORY OF PLASTIC
LIKE IT OR NOT, PLASTIC IS HERE TO STAY. AN ART SHOW EXAMINES OUR RELATIONSHIP TO IT
A HUGE whale-like installation with sound effects, created by the Wexford-born artist Ed Devane, is an eye-catching feature of a touring exhibition called Plastic, currently hosted by Wexford County Council and Wexford Arts Centre in partnership with the Science Gallery, Dublin.
The two venue exhibition in the County Hall and the Arts Centre features works by a collection of international artists on the theme of the controversial subject of plastic and will continue until Friday, April 17.
Plastic plays such an important role in modern life that to stop using it completely is not an option. The exhibition questions how we can utilise this wonderful, terrible material while changing our approach to it, so that it doesn’t choke our oceans and ruin the planet.
In each location visited by the show (also Galway, Limerick and Letterkenny), a new commission has been co-created with the community to bring a local focus to the topic.
Ed Devane, a sound artist and instrument builder now living in Donegal, created ‘Polycetacea’ following a co-design workshop in Wexford where participants identified as common concerns the county’s coastal areas and the effects of plastic pollution on them.
The resulting artwork is an abstract sculptural representation of a whale, featuring sound-making elements that respond to the movement of visitors in the County Hall.
Ed will hold two free workshops in instrument making using recycled plastics in Wexford Arts Centre on Thursday, March 19 and Friday, March 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., followed by a public performance on the instruments in the County Hall at 2 p.m. on Friday. Booking is essential.
Also to coincide with the exhibition, the artist collective SUBSET were commissioned to create a giant mural on the theme of plastic in Pierce Court at Paul Quay in Wexford town.
Plastic was curated by Science Gallery Dublin at Trinity College, supported by Science Foundation Ireland and will culminate in a summit at the end of 2020 to evaluate our relationship to plastic.